Honor in Blood
by RKInu241
Summary: In a Japan where magic wielding pagans and humans are at war, a halfling by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo, with the help of Kuchiki Rukia, must save their world. Full Summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, I know you're all asking...what am I doing uploading a new story when I haven't even finished Reincarnation of Ice? See, I had a wonderful plot bunny for an AU fic and I was scared this particular bunny would run away, so I wrote it down. This story, contrary to my other two stories, is not Hitsu-centric. Hitsugaya does get an important role as per my preferences, but the main hero (unfortunately) will be Ichigo. The reason for this is so that I at least have some practice at writing other stories based on different characters besides Hitsu-chan. So here we are. The setting for this story is sometime around Sengoku Jidai, but because I don't know many old Japanese names but a few, I'm using some pretty modern ones. Now enough of the small talk. I give you the first chapter of Honor in Blood! _

_Synopsis: In the world of Japan where the people are devided into magic-wielding pagans and vengeful humans and ruled by warlords, A halfing born from the marriage of a pagan and human by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo is on the run for his life from the people who want him dead. With the help of Kuchiki Rukia, the adopted sister of the Tokyo Lord, Kuchiki Byakuya and a little help here and there from his and her friends, he is on a quest to save their world._

_Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure_

_Beta: If you want to beta, drop me a private PM. I'm still not sure whether my other betas want to do this yet. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. However, the storyline for this fanfiction rightfully belongs to me._

**Honor in Blood**

Chapter 1: Encounters

He ran through the woods aimlessly, not knowing in which direction he was going. The blood running down his face stained his vision in red, and he had no clear idea where he was heading to anymore. All that was left was a desire to escape, to run away from the people after him. For surely they were the embodiment of death- they were after all, after his life. Suddenly, he tripped over a root that was sticking up from the ground, falling head first into the dirt. Scrambling to his feet blatantly ignoring the pain rushing up and down his body, he began to pick up the pace.

They were not far now, and he didn't plan to die here in the middle of nowhere.

Sidestepping to avoid colliding into a tree and jumping over another fallen bark, he soon came face to face with a river. The river was deep and wide, its current strong, but he decided to brave it anyway.

Better try his luck than let his pursuers get their hands on him.

Diving in quickly, he tried swimming across the river to the other side. But his strength was waning and his limbs tired from running for days on. He was hungry and thirsty and had barely had any time to sleep. No matter how good his physique was he wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

Finally, the last of his strength left his tired body, and he was left to the whims of the water's current. He could feel it carry him down stream, banging him mercilessly against stones and banks. His vision was beginning to blur with the weariness settling in and he tried desperately to hold on to the last threads of his consciousness.

But when he reached the end of the river and was hurtled over a tall waterfall into the ravine below filled with sharp stones, he allowed himself to succumb to the darkness.

* * *

Rukia rode silently on her white horse, pondering on the day's events. Aizen Sousuke, the Lord of Nara had declared war on the neighboring states of Aichi and Akita, and no matter how much the Lords of the Allied Lands told him to think over this entire thing, he had attacked them relentlessly -those lands of the humans. 

In Japan, where pagans and humans lived and the lands were ruled by warlords, it was hard to prevent these kinds of disputes. The pagans were powerful mages, capable of wielding magic based on many elements, and the humans who had no power of any kind, hated and feared them. Half of the lands where ruled by pagans, while the other half was ruled by humans. Most pagans paid no heed to the humans and lived within the Allied Lands -the land of pagans, but when one of them were to accidentally step into human lands known as Forbidden Lands, they were executed by them for crimes they never even committed. The hatred had been manifested, and now war was upon them. The peace could no longer be kept, even by the Gotei 13.

It seemed the time had come for the Beginning of Darkness, the one that the clairvoyant Hara Masami had predicted over a hundred years ago.

Suddenly, Rukia spotted something lying by the riverbank. Upon further inspection, she was surprised to find out that the figure was an unconscious young man. Quickly unmounting from her steed, she quickly ran over to his side and checked his pulse. She was relieved to feel his pulse beating under her finger. Looking intently at the boy, she could see that he looked around fifteen years old. His fine features were quite pronounced and he had a head of short spiky orange hair. She was not surprised to see that kind of hair color, after all a lot of pagans had strangely colored hair, be it natural or not. He had a lean physique from what she could tell and the well chiseled muscles spoke of his strength. But what troubled Rukia deeply was the lack of an insignia.

Normally a pagan would be able to unlock his or her magical powers by the age of fourteen and after a year it would be possible to discern his ruling element of which his magic was based on. The person would then have the seal of his element magically imprinted on his left arm. But as far as she could see, there was no sign of the insignia.

_That's strange_, she thought silently. The only reason why there would be a lack of the insignia would be that... But his hair, it was clear that he was pagan, for the humans despised any kind of strange hair coloration. She could also sense magic within his body, and it was quite a strong one. Then why-

She didn't have time to finish that train of thought when the stranger opened his eyes. She noted that they were a deep brown. Looking around dazedly, the first thing the boy saw was her.

When it finally hit him that he was laying on a girl's lap, he quickly jumped up, flustered and confused. Despite the strangeness of the situation, Rukia allowed herself to let out a small laugh at the boy's shyness towards her. Looking at him now, she could see that he was thoroughly confused.

"Come here," she said gently, motioning to the spot besides her and taking out a bento from her jinbaori. "You must be hungry."

The boy took one look at her and immediately complied. When she presented him with the bento box, she was amused to see him eat all the food ravenously, finishing it quickly and not leaving a crumb. It was like he hadn't eaten in days. After he was done, the boy handed the box back to her sheepishly. As if knowing what he wanted, she also gave his her canteen of water. He finished that quickly too.

After that, they sat on the bank for a few minutes, neither saying a word. Soon, the silence was broken by the boy that she had found. "Why did you save me?"

"I didn't save you," she said pointedly. "You saved yourself. All I that did was to find you and supply you with food and drink."

"Even so I still thank you."

After another stretch of silence, Rukia spoke. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you."

The boy practically jumped at that. "Kuchiki?!"

That was expected. After all, she got that reaction most of the time. This one was no different.

"Yes. My sister is married to Kuchiki Byakuya, the Lord of Nara as you know. Since I am her last living relative, Byakuya-niisama adopted me into the family."

"Why are you even telling this to a total stranger?" He asked quizzically.

"Because I trust you."

The boy didn't say anything at that and turned his face to hide the blush forming on his cheeks.

"Then who are you?" The boy stiffened at that.

"Why do you need to know?" He said softly, shadows cast upon his eyes made it hard to see whether he was offended by the question.

"It's only right to tell people their name after that person has told you theirs." She reasoned pointedly.

The boy didn't say anything for a while before he let out a sigh. "Are you sure you want to know?" She nodded her head.

The boy took in a deep breath. "Kurosaki Ichigo." He finally said. "That's my name."

* * *

_So how is it? Good? Bad? Totally rocks? Sucks like hell? Review and tell me please. It only takes a minute to update. Until the next chapter, I bid you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Yo, Minna! Ohisashiburi. Sorry for the long wait. With the school already started, it would be harder to update, considering that my mom expects me to do well, I'm in the so-called best class in my form, and this year is the foundational year for a big exam of mine. So all in all, it's tough to even fond time to type a few verses. Not to mention the fact I'm slightly brain dead and somewhere in wonderland for the time being. Don't worry; I don't plan on going on a hiatus or deleting this story. I will just be a bit slow when it comes to updates. Next line of matter will be the beta. I've decided against accepting any of the offers by the two that dropped me a private message. Instead, two of my current betas will do the job. For the two that did say threy could do the betaing, thanks for offering anyway. For those that read Reincarnation as well, don't worry. The next chapter will be up sooner than you think. For incase, I would like to inform you guys that the seventh chapter of Reincarnation was changed. Putting Soraya's family in depth would further complicate and lengthen the story to an unnecessary length, so I carried out my first idea. As per my norm, I will write only the disclaimer. The beta will also be posted for this but not for the next chapter. Other than that, please enjoy the second chapter of Honor in Blood. However, I'd first like to thank and reply people for their lovely reviews._

_Special thanks to tenkage onna, stealth67, annstar5647, Hyou-kun, Rasgara, KiraDeLindra, Sin of Otaku, Lithic and OShayO for reviewing the previous chapter. No questions that were asked could I answer._

_Now on board with the story. Enjoy!_

_Beta: feathersnow, Yukiko Tsukishirou_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters.

* * *

_

**Honor in Blood**

Chapter 2

Ichigo was awed by the decor of the finely designed parlor of the Kuchiki homestead and appraised by the finely carved furniture and expensive silks that were scattered in the sun-lit room. Looking out of the huge windows, he marveled at the beauty of the woodland estate that surrounded the manor. Its lush greenery reminded him of the times when he had went to the countryside with his father and sisters. Back then, they would laugh, Isshin would play jokes, Karin would kick him in the face, Yuzu would try to pacify them, and he would be walking ahead of them pretending not to care.

Those days were long gone now.

Shaking his head to clear them of memories of a long-gone time, he thought back to the girl called Rukia. Surprisingly, she hadn't jumped in shock and/or surprise at his name, and had just extended a hand to him and asked whether or not he would like to stay at the Kuchiki manor for a while. And then after they had reached, she had immediately called a servant to take him to the parlor to wait for her as she went to inform her brother and sister of his presence.

Ichigo couldn't help but find the way she had reacted to him...comforting in a way. He may have schooled himself not to take note of the surprised reactions of the people that had heard his name for the first time and knew what it meant; had learned to ignore the disgusted and spiteful glances that people directed at him after they had known or had known for a long time, but as he thought back to the smile that radiated with warmth and care, he couldn't help but like it. He could definitely get used to this kind of reaction instead of what he always got from others.

He just hoped that he wouldn't get her into trouble like he had for a few others that had given him the same treatment as her.

The sound of someone entering the room stopped him from going further down that train of thought. Turning around, he had been expecting to see Rukia there, but was still none too surprised when it was Kuchiki Byakuya who had entered instead.

But of course, for a lord would definitely understand the meaning behind the name Kurosaki.

Kuchiki Byakuya circled around him, judging him with solemn grey eyes. Ichigo met his eyes with a confident look. Even if he hadn't a seat as high as the lords, he definitely wasn't going to turn chicken any moment, even to humor a lord like the man standing before him. Looking at Kuchiki Byakuya, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not the man had gender issues, what with the long hair, strange hair accessories and girly scarf, he would have thought that the person standing before him was a woman if not for the fact that his gender was known.

Not that he wasn't going to say that out loud in the lord's face- for Kami's sake, this man was one of the most powerful pagan mages around, not to mention lord of Nara; besides, he valued his life more than that.

Soon, Byakuya came to a halt in front of him, his face betraying none of what he felt. Ichigo braced himself for the worst. He wondered slightly whether the man was going to kill him here and now or throw him out of the house.

"I give you my condolences in regard of your father Isshin, Kurosaki Ichigo."

That reply had surprised Ichigo greatly.

"How did you-?" He had been about to ask when Byakuya had cut him off.

"I know a lot about you, and from what my sister has told me, you have unlocked your hidden pagan powers."

Ichigo clammed up at that, not knowing what to say.

"We will find out what kind of power you have in due time," Byakuya continued, not bothering to wait to see whether Ichigo would say anything or not. "For now, you must be tired. A servant will show you to one of the guestrooms where you will spend the night. Clean up, and then a servant will bring you a change of clothes to wear for dinner."

Turning, Byakuya exited the room. But as he was about to pass through the doorway, he looked over his shoulder and said to Ichigo, "Your sisters are fine. I have left them in the care of trusted individuals."

For the third time of the day since Rukia had saved, he had been taken by surprise.

As the floodgates opened and relief and joy swept over him in a wave, he managed to find his voice to say a quick "Thank you" to the lord.

Whether or not the man had heard it, Byakuya made no acknowledgement of it.

* * *

Rukia looked across the room, from her brother to Ichigo and back to her brother. Neither had said anything to each other, and Rukia could only guess what words they had exchanged in the parlor that afternoon. 

Upon returning, Rukia had promptly gone to the study room where her brother, the lord of Nara and his wife and court's lead healer, Hisana had been to tell them of their unexpected guest. When she had mentioned his name, a look of surprise had crossed both their faces and her brother and sister had exchanged a glance. Within a millisecond, Byakuya had wiped the expression with practiced ease and had exited the room swiftly, his robes and hair swirling dramatically around his form. Hisana had then turned to her with her ever-serene smile plastered on her face, all trace of surprise gone, and advised her to take a bath and get ready for dinner.

Rukia had complied, albeit slightly worried. But Rukia trusted her brother, and after so many years of staying together, by now she knew most of his patterns. And as far as her memory serves, he'd never throw any out or kill them unless there was a legimate reason.

"Rukia," Rukia heard her brother call her, and immediately shifted her gaze to look at him. His features were stoic as usual as he asked for her and Ichigo's presence later on after dinner. Rukia could only nod her consent, slightly surprised as to why her brother wanted to see her. , And with Ichigo nonetheless.

Looking at Ichigo from across the table, she couldn't help but stare. The clothes Byakuya had given him fitted well, and after a quick bath and shave, he looked quite decent. Handsome, she would somewhat admit. But what caught her attention most was the way he carried himself- the way he moved, the way he spoke when talking to Hisana, the way he ate; if she hadn't known better, she would have mistaken him for the son of another lord.

She shook her head slightly at that. That thought was absurd, far-fetched and didn't make any sense. After all, a prince wouldn't be lying by the side of the river dressed in tattered rags and half starved and dehydrated from the lack of food and drink.

Making a motion for the servant to take away her empty plate, she got up as another servant took hold of her chair and pulled it back so that she could stand. Glancing out the corner of her eye, she saw Ichigo doing the same, except that he insisted on getting up himself. She pushed open the door and made her way to her brother's study, Ichigo following silently behind her. Neither of them attempted to make any small talk and only enjoyed the peaceful silence that had befallen upon them as they walked past the lavishly decorated hallways and staircase. Soon they reached the door to Byakuya's study; after rapping on the door lightly and hearing a soft 'come on', she entered the room with Ichigo just a few steps behind.

Byakuya looked up from his paperwork to address them as soon as they reached the center of the room. "Rukia, Kurosaki Ichigo," he began. "You two will be traveling together to Hokkaido to meet with the clairvoyant and lord of Hokkaido tomorrow."

Rukia stared in shock at her brother, wondering whether he had gone mad. Turning her head, her onyx eyes were soon staring into Ichigo's brown ones as both looked at each other dumbly, not knowing what to say.

"I will hear no complaints from the both of you," Byakuya continued before either of them could even think of a word of protest. "This trip is essential, but even more so to you, Kurosaki Ichigo. I believe I don't have to say much for you to understand.

"Rukia," Rukia turned to face her brother at that. "I want you to accompany him on this trip. While you travel, I would like you to teach him how to control and use his newly found powers. Also, ascertain what element it commands and tell me via an encoded message. Do not use telepathy; we may be easily overheard."

"Why me?" Rukia asked quietly, still unsure as to why she was going on this trip.

"I can't spare anyone else at the moment, especially not a member of my council. Not with the oncoming war. You were the best choice."

"I thought the clairvoyant was located in Nagasaki," Ichigo finally said, somewhat confused.

"That was the previous destined clairvoyant," Byakuya answered quickly. "The current clairvoyant is a natural and is much stronger than Ukitake Jyuushiro, the lord of Nagasaki."

"What's the difference?"

Byakuya sighed at that. Rukia could only smile at Ichigo's curiosity. "All clairvoyants are Chosen Ones, but not all clairvoyants are natural clairvoyants," Byakuya replied curtly before continuing. "Now if you would excuse me, I have some matters to attend to before I retire for the night. Be ready for tomorrow."

And he turned his attention back to the mountain of paperwork. Turning around, Rukia made her way out of the room. When Byakuya finished talking he was done, and wouldn't reply if you asked him anything else on the topic before. Turning around, she came face to face yet again with Kurosaki Ichigo, who had exited the room as well. Looking at her for a while, Ichigo then proceeded to ask, "what did he mean by that?'

"You like asking questions a lot don't you?" she stated. He flushed slightly at that.

"It's just...I don't like not knowing stuff, that's all," he blurted out. Rukia couldn't help but find his gullibility amusing. And somewhat sweet.

"You'll learn in due time, Ichigo. In due time."

* * *

_This should be roughly the same length with the first chapter. So how was it? Good? Bad? Utterly horrible? Made you craving for more. Review and tell me. It only takes a click of the purple button on the bottom left hand corner of the webpage and would take you only a minute of your time. Until the next chapter, ja ne?_


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